Emma Norman

The Guerrilla Collection ran a Poetry/Spoken Word Competition in June calling all young creatives to use one of the prompts
1. 5 years from now...
2. If I knew then what I know now...
3. Here I am and this is where I'm going...
to write/record a 1-2 minute long poem/spoken word piece based on the theme - "Looking Towards the Future".

The 2021 Poetry/Spoken Word Competition winner was Emma Norman.

Kia Ora!

My name is Emma, I'm 18, and I live in sunny Hawke's Bay. I attend Hastings Girls High School, where I am lucky enough to be surrounded by peers who enjoy self-expression and creativity as much as I do. To me, poetry is a liberating way to reflect on my own experiences while presenting them in a thought-provoking way, thereby leaving room for interpretation. The ability to provoke such differing perspectives in people, while knowing the intended narrative, excites me. Winning The Guerrilla Collection Poetry/Spoken Word Competition 2021 is an extreme privilege and I can't wait to see where this takes me! Ngā mihi nui. :)

If I Knew Then What I Know Now..

Film Credits

Dancers:
Demi-Jo Manalo
Rodney Tyrell
Aisea Latu
Aki Manson
Faith Schuster
Tai Hemana

Editor:
Rodney Tyrell

If I Knew Then What I Know Now..
By Emma Norman

Naive thinker
gazing out the window from festering floorboards. Drowning in isolation,
a tonic.
I am
calling your name
preaching jumbled words, overflowing gullet
to cracks in blue-bled sky.

Bad reception
must be carving us apart.
Kindly investigate voicemails, listing foreign figures. Smudged reminders
please scour through.
And if all else fails
smash your letterbox, inspecting alloy
pleats.
Communication is dire,
my jugular
sun red.

You see,
there is no rest
for hands grabbing at numbers.
Sand on the slip-and-slide.
Wax from the wick.
Or perhaps
that is the issue.
If I were to gouge out my eyes,
shade feeding fear,
and shove them in replacement of your own
you
still
gaze.

Naive thinker,
forgive me.
I should not have feared. You are,
despite it all,
enduring.

For winning the Poetry/Spoken Word Competition Emma received:
- $1,000 Prezzy card
- Online mentoring session to develop poem
- A limited edition The Guerrilla Collection T-Shirt
- Certificate of achievement
- Dance film created to her spoken word poem by Black Grace dancers